We have expanded the Kingdom Explore Mode with new difficulties, a new boss type, an updated menu, and added optional Side Quests.

The core Explore battle mechanics remains unchanged.

We have updated the Explore menu to use the Kingdom Map, matching the layout used by Quests. All Explore encounters will now appear as nodes on the Kingdom Quest Map.

The right-hand panel is now always visible at the start of an Explore Run, so players can interact with encounters immediately without first clicking a map location. Also, the number of clicks to complete an Explore battle remains unchanged.
The Wandering Merchant system has been changed so it will only trigger once per Explore Run. This is to improve the flow of battles in the run, reducing the interruptions between battles.
We have also made some changes to how the Explore opponent teams are generated to try to improve enemy variety.

Numbers shown in screenshots are from active development and may not be the same as when the update goes live.

We have added 4 new Explore difficulties – Difficulty 13, 14, 15, and 16. These difficulties are designed for players who have progressed through Astral Spire and Kingdom Prestige and are ready for tougher fights.

• Difficulty 13: Enemy Level 175
  
  • Gold Multiplier x9
    
  • Mythstones 88–92
    
  • Boss Chest Rewards – 1 Badge + 2 Shiny Dust.
• Difficulty 14: Enemy Level 200
  
  • Gold Multiplier x10
    
  • Mythstones 106–110
    
  • Boss Chest Rewards – 1–2 Badges + 4 Shiny Dust.
• Difficulty 15: Enemy Level 250
  
  • Gold Multiplier x11
    
  • Mythstones 128–132
    
  • Boss Chest Rewards – 1–3 Badges + 6 Shiny Dust.
• Difficulty 16: Enemy Level 300
  
  • Gold Multiplier x12
    
  • Mythstones 150–154
    
  • Boss Chest Rewards – 2–3 Badges + 8 Shiny Dust.

On Difficulties 13–16, the final boss changes from a Mythic Boss to an Eternal Dragon Boss.

Players earn Badges rather than Medal Tokens for defeating an Eternal Dragon. Reaching an Eternal Dragon Battle costs 250 Mythstones. This cost reflects the higher Mythstone yields available at the new difficulty levels.

Mythstones are now also rewarded from Side Quests, more on that later.
Defeating the Eternal Dragon Boss will still reward a Boss Chest.


Side Quests are a new optional feature that may appear during an Explore Run. Which you can also chose to bypass.
An Explore Run can contain 0–3 Side Quests, and the chance to encounter a Side Quest increases as you play higher difficulties.

Note: Difficulty 1 has no Side Quests, and Difficulty 16 will always have 3

Each Side Quest consists of a single battle, and the enemy teams follow the same construction rules as Explore Mini-Boss battles.

A Side Quest will appear on the map after the preceding map location has been defeated.
Once you start the next Explore battle after a Side Quest has been revealed, the Side Quest is no longer available.
So, once you pass it on the map if you have not completed it, you cannot go back to it.

As you can see in the example above, the Side Quest path will show you what reward is available for completing the Side Quest battle.

Each Side Quest will always reward Mythstones, as well as one of the following:

• 10,000 Gold
  
• 200 Souls
  
• 100 Glory
  
• 3 Minor Traitstones (matching Kingdom Colour)
  
• 2 Arcane Traitstones (matching Kingdom Colour)
  
• 4 White Pet Food

We have added a new Constellation Board to Astral Spire – The Jester!

• The Jester’s Capstone ability is Prankster: a 20% chance (plus 1% per level) to transform the Enemy Hero Weapon into a different Weapon, of similar colors.
  
  • If the Weapon is a single mana color, it will be the same color. But if it has 2 or more colors, it will randomly select a Weapon that matches one of the colors.
• Gold Nodes:
  
  • Dodge: +5% to the Agile Trait
    
  • Thievery: +20 Starting Gold
    
    • Affected Traits will have an icon appear next to the Trait name that matches the Constellation node.
• Bronze and Silver Nodes: Skill Point bonuses to Rogue Troops

• In Explore difficulties E1-E12, we have increased the existing Gold modifiers.
  
• We have added a 40% Mythstone bonus to the Ring of Wonder subscription.
  
  • Players with an active Ring of Wonder subscription will immediately start earning 40% more Mythstones from Explores.
    
  • This bonus is added to any other Mythstone bonuses active in the Kingdom.
• We have added an animation to battles that will appear when a Capstone triggers.
  
  • Currently, if more than 1 Capstone trigger, it will display that multiple Capstones have triggered. Feedback has already been shared to change this to list the specific Capstones that are triggering
• If the Player still has a Class Quest available to complete, an icon will appear on the Quest tab button in the Kingdom menu. Which is currently a known issue that it’s not appearing

• There Can Be Only 11: Defeat 11 Eternal Dragons Bosses.
  
• Easily Distracted: Complete 50 Side Quests in Explore.
  
• No Pain, No Gain: Defeat an Eternal Dragon Boss on Difficulty 16.

• “Complete Class Quest” message does not appear once a Kingdom Quest is completed.
  
  • The Class Quest now also needs to be completed before Trials is available in that Kingdom
• Blighted Change and Withered Gems Capstone trigger animation is not displayed when activated
  
• Explore Map path does not reflect the actual Explore progress
  
  • This can be resolved by exiting to the World Map and returning to the Kingdom
• In battles where the enemy matches 4+ Gems, triggering the Time Warp Capstone, the enemy inconsistently does not lose their extra turn.
  
• Expel Blessing Capstone is only applying to one opponent and not the entire enemy team

Note: The last two in the list above were reported in the beta and later confirmed as working by the team. I am leaving them in the list, just in case they pop up again once live or something happens between now and when 9.3 releases, and they are not actually resolved.

• Players were seeing a blank screen at the end of an Explore battle.
  
• A visual issue where some of the Kingdom Level up previews in the Crystal Exchange menu were displaying a flat Mythstone bonus and not the bonus as a percentage
  
• Astral Spire bonuses were not appearing in intended game modes, or were appearing where they should not.
  
• A visual issue where the Enemy Hero’s Stats would change in a battle between the numbers displayed within the puzzle board and the troop card when affected by the Hero’s Bane capstone.
  
• Explore was unlocked before a player had completed the Kingdom’s questline.
  
• The Pause icon in auto-play mode was becoming supersized.
  
• Gold and Souls earned by new players were not always applied to their respective Shrines until later nodes in Broken Spire.

A note from Jeto: As always, in the background, I am chasing up a long list of bugs and QOLs, so if it’s not mentioned above, then it has not yet been resolved. Expecting more information in 9.4 about the notification issue as well.